"If you want to be rich, you should have more trees, have fewer children, and build more roads." Wang Xiao blurted out.

When Empress Wu heard this, she said, "Many kinds of trees? Having fewer children? I don't agree with either of them. ”

"A variety of trees, that is, in the river embankment and the sandy place to plant more trees, can effectively prevent drought and flood disasters, followed by agricultural reform and innovation, to ensure the output of grain is the foundation of the country.

Having fewer children is very simple, I have more than 4 million households in Datang, with a population of nearly 30 million, and it will increase year by year in the future. ”

"I know all this, but isn't it better to be rich and strong, the more people you have?" Empress Wu asked.

"No, Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother, the population is larger, and there are more people to eat, and our fields can't support so many people at all, for example, at the beginning, a family of three can live a rich life, but if a family of five people, two sons, and the children marry and have children, they are divided into two households, and only five acres are left when they are evenly divided, which is still calculated very early after the death of the elders in the family.

This is the same as the royal family, the less the land is divided, the more the land held by individuals will decrease in the future, and if this goes on until there is no land to plant in the end, won't the world be in chaos? ”

Empress Wu nodded understandingly, "Coupled with natural disasters and the land annexation you mentioned, there will be more displaced people, these displaced people will either become bandits or become slaves, and in the end, there will be no free people in my Tang Dynasty, and they will all become the servants of the landlord."

But you can't get rich just by doing this, right? ”

"That's nature, these are just basic stability, if you want to get rich, you still have to build more roads, so that the exchange between Tiannan and Haibei is faster and faster, that is, to promote the development of commodity trading, so that the economy can prosper, and the state can collect more taxes."

"But that's not enough, is it? Although my Datang is vast and abundant, after all, there are very few civilians who can buy these goods, and it is a luxury for them to have enough to eat. ”

Wang Xiao was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect that Empress Wu would know the current situation of the people, so it would be easy to solve it.

"If you don't have it at home, why don't you go to other countries and sell goods to them in exchange for food, money, and silver.

For example, the nomads need salt, vegetables, clothing, etc., and we can trade them to use the horses, cattle and sheep that we lack. ”

"Hmph, it's easy to say, those barbarians only like to rob them, and talking to them about business is tantamount to playing the harp to a cow."

"Then what if you go overseas, the extreme west, where there are mostly city-states, is even more chaotic than the Three Kingdoms period, and at the same time very backward, they still live a life of drinking blood and the era of the Pope."

Wang Xiao still didn't quite understand what Qin Mu said about Europe, so he just said it in a way that the Empress Wu could understand according to his instructions.

"In a word, harvest other countries to enrich and strengthen my Datang!"

After listening to this, Empress Wu pondered for a long time, and suddenly became enlightened.

The reason why the royal family can live a life of fine clothes and food is given by the people of the whole country, and in the same way, if the Tang Dynasty wants all civilians to live a good life, then it needs the civilians of other countries to serve them and farm for them.

"Wang Xiao, what you said is very right, but I don't understand one thing, why do you hide your talent after being an official for so many years?"

Wang Xiao was a little guilty and smiled bitterly, "Thanks to Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother, who sentenced me to prison, the minister suddenly woke up and realized the Tao in prison." ”

Empress Wu smiled and said, "Okay, I'll make an exception for you, you can be reinstated, as for the harvest of other countries you said, then I will transfer you to Honglu Temple to be in charge of foreign trade and economic cooperation." ”

"Her Royal Highness the Empress Dowager Xie!"

Wang Xiao breathed a sigh of relief, this time not only saved his life but also served as an idle position, Honglu Temple belongs to the Ministry of Rites, but there is the Queen Mother's dictation here, naturally independent of the Ministry of Rites is only responsible for the Queen Mother, and Qin Mu believes that there will be great development in the future.

After Wang Xiao left, Empress Wu was alone thinking about the conversation just now, and at this moment she completely understood that there must be people in this world to suffer, so why not other people and other countries?

He remembered the prophecy of the old way again, and muttered to himself: "There is no shadow in the west, it seems that Li Chong can't make any waves." ”

She thought about it carefully, and the people who were rescued this time turned out to be from six departments, except for the Ministry of Rites...

"Someone!"

Only then did Empress Wu understand that Wang Xiao was not the driving force behind the scenes.

"Chuanqiu official squire."

After a while, Qiuguan Shilang came and explained that only Yao Wen was currently imprisoned in Dali Temple, which also confirmed the conjecture of Empress Wu.

"Xuan Yao Wen enters the hall."

After half of the incense world, Yao Wen, who was in a discouraged spirit, came to the Xifeng Palace.

Empress Wu felt that something was wrong at a glance, Yao Wen's spirit should not be like this at all.

"Yao Wen, how many other people are in prison with you?"

Yao Wen sighed, "About eight people." ”

"Eight? Do you know Zhibingzi? ”

"Know, know, he was invited by me!" Yao Wen immediately came to the spirit.

"You invited it? What about the purpose? Everyone else is here to get out, but what about you? ”

"Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother, the minister is wronged! I also want to go out, so I borrow the words of others to predict good fortune and misfortune! ”

"Then you say, when will this rebellion end, if you are wrong, you will not want to get out of the Dali Temple in your life."

Yao Wen tried his best to recall, "Back to Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother, the traitor Li Chong was defeated and died on the 20th. ”

"Hmph, let's expose the stuffing, how did you know in prison that it was Li Chong, the king of Langya, who rebelled?"

Yao Wen was so frightened that he knotted his mouth, "This... Minister... Alas..."

"Yao Wen, tell me honestly, as long as I am satisfied, you will naturally be fine."

Yao Wen was entangled in his heart, he promised his intimacy that he couldn't tell what happened in prison, but now it's time for life and death to be able to bear it.

Yao Wen explained what has happened in the past few days, how to cooperate, how to control the psychology of the Queen Mother, and so on.

After hearing this, Empress Wu's face was cloudy, and she first felt angry at Qin Lang's perverted manipulation and understanding of herself, and at the same time she was happy to have found such a talent.

A smile appeared at the corner of Empress Wu's mouth, "Yao Wen, you have to be trustworthy, didn't you think about the consequences if you betrayed him like this?" ”

"This is a deal, and I don't want to die!"

"Okay, you're acquitted."

When Yao Wen heard this, he immediately became energetic, and before he could thank Enwu, he continued: "Assign the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate to be responsible for the sacrifice and other matters, and you will not be able to return to your eternal life." ”

"Ahh Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother, why are you doing this! I just placed the wrong tribute, and told you the truth, the minister was wronged! ”

The place where birds don't in Anxi Duhufu, it is better to spend the rest of his life in prison when he gets there, Yao Wen was discouraged at this time, and fainted all of a sudden.

"Drag it off!" In the afternoon, he looked disgusted.

After the two guards dragged Yao Wen away, Empress Wu immediately summoned Shangguan Wan'er.

"Wan'er, you take a few people to Dali Temple and arrest Qin Mu to the palace."

Shangguan Wan'er nodded slightly, "No." ”